Main benefits of the Certa pump include hygiene, no pulsation and gentle handling of ingredients

Certa is the only pump that combines all of these attributes

The advantages of a MasoSine Certa sine pump from Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group (WMFTG) are being leveraged in an innovative liquid food dispensing, filling and packaging system. During development, it became clear that the Certa pump was the only one on the market that could meet all of the OEM’s requirements, ensuring it soon became a fixed part of this advanced system.

Atlantic Engineering is a 25-year-old OEM based in Flanders, Belgium that specialises in developing dispensing technology for the food industry, particularly involving liquid and semi-liquid foodstuff. This varies from aqueous substances like brine, to viscous meat mixtures such as pie fillings. Some years ago, Atlantic developed a concept called Innofill, which offers food processing companies many new and exciting possibilities.

Fast, safe and high integrity

The idea for Innofill came about after observing how a client produced meals for hospitals, manually pouring hundreds of litres of soup into lidded buckets or bags – there had to be a better way.

The Innofill concept is based on dispensing, filling and safely sealing liquid products in one move, making them suitable for the cook and chill process. By utilising this method, fresh produce can be kept for up to 40 days without loss of quality. As a result, food production companies can work more efficiently, reduce production time and develop new products and strategies. However, the successful development of this concept relied on Atlantic Engineering sourcing the ideal pump.

“Pumps play an important role in all of our systems,” states Cédric De Bleye at Atlantic Engineering. “We use many different pumps because they have specific properties and advantages. For example, transferring liquids can be carried out with a diaphragm pump, whereas piston pumps are suitable for filling thousands of 250ml pots of mayonnaise day-in, day-out. However, piston pumps are not suitable for filling larger receptacles. One of the main reasons we chose the Certa sine pump is because it’s the only one that can do everything we need for the Innofill concept.”

No pulsation

The four most important pump aspects with regard to Innofill include virtually no pulsation and consistent, accurate flows. The pump also has to be hygienic and easy to clean with minimal downtime. Gentle handling of viscous fluids, including particles and large pieces of food ingredients, is a further prerequisite, while high temperature resistance is also required as the pump is connected to boilers.

“Only the Certa pump could offer us all of these capabilities – and the price-to-quality ratio was good as well – which is why it was the only logical choice,” says Mr De Bleye.

Certa delivers gradual flow without pulsation, which is important in order to dispense accurately and package the product correctly – without foaming or loss of integrity.

Hygienic solution

Total hygiene is facilitated as only a few parts of Certa come into contact with the food and the entire pump can be cleaned quickly using CIP or SIP. The pump is then ready to process a totally different product.

A further benefit is that the Certa pump has only one changeable part, so spares inventory is minimal and maintenance downtime is greatly reduced.

“Although we primarily sell the Innofill concept, we do use WMFTG MasoSine as a selling point,” conclude Mr De Bleye. “The company has a good name and the quality of the pumps is widely known. We are very satisfied with the qualities of the Certa pump and these advantages contribute to the success of Innofill.”